Apple’s upcoming Apple Watch may be one of the most anticipated new devices for this year, but company has been testing the technology behind it for two years now. The work was so secret that volunteers who participated in the testing had no idea what they were working on.
ABC News revealed its exclusive behind-the-scenes feature on Apple’s top secret testing facility, which is full of exercise equipment, health sensors, and even climate control pods. Most of the testing centered on Apple’s Healthkit, and the volunteers were providing valuable baseline information for the health monitoring framework. Despite exercising while being hooked up to a large number of sensors, including a face mask, these volunteers were not told what they were testing.
Apple had also installed several climate control pods in the secret facility, to simulate varying weather conditions and measure how the human body responds to those changes. However, the Apple Watch was apparently still tested in a variety of climates as Apple took the device to places like Alaska and Dubai. While the outdoors testing was to be expected, the climate pods in the laboratory are something straight out of a science fiction movie and have a slight ominous look to them.
The secrecy behind this testing is no surprise to those familiar with Cupertino’s practices. However, the fact that the Apple Watch was tested for two years without leaking horribly shows that the obsession with compartmentalising information works. Whether this data will make the Apple Watch any better than the competition, but the HealthKit will undoubtedly help researchers compile information much faster than traditional methods.
The Apple Watch is launching in 10 countries (Malaysia is not among them) next month, with no word on when it will be appearing in other markets.
[Source: Mac Rumors]
